"We saw what people did at ballgames and
at our shows. Who wouldn't like watching a song of yours having that kind
of impact. It really was such a massive song."

Maiman isn't exaggerating. The infectious track spent a ridiculous 27 weeks
at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart. More than 3 million copies
have been sold and the smash has been streamed more than a staggering 472
million times on Spotify.

However, when it was time to follow-up "Shut Up and Dance," Walk the Moon
decided to move in a different direction.

"We didn't want to repeat ourselves," guitarist Eli Maiman said.

"We weren't going to write another version of 'Shut
Up and Dance.' We truly appreciate how well the song did. It put us on the
map. But we had to move on."

Walk the Moon, which will perform Sunday at The Fillmore, has done just
that with it's latest album, "What if Nothing."

The band’s third album, which dropped in November, is full of hook-laden
songs, but there is a bit more of an edge, which separates Walk the Moon
from some of its pop-rock contemporaries, such as Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons
and Bleachers.

The heavy but catchy cut, “Headphones,” proves that Walk the Moon is much
more than “Shut Up and Dance.” The artistic breakthrough features a big
riff but is poppy at its core.

"It sounds amazing," Maiman said. "It's a different sounding song for us.
It was cool breaking new ground."

Producer Mike Elizondo made some suggestions the band followed," Maiman
said.

“We love his work with Mastodon and of course [Dr.] Dre. He helped us add
some beats and gave us some balance. Mike had a huge impact on us. We
needed that push. He helped us flesh out our sound and get to the next
level.”

A break between albums cleared the band's collective mind.

"That had a huge
impact too," Maiman said. "If it wasn't for that time off, I think this
album would have sounded different."

We were on the road every year for 300 days. When we took the time off, we discovered that we had some tension between us."

The band went on hiatus in 2016 when vocalist Nicholas Petricca's father
became ill. The group scrapped its summer tour.

"It was the first time the band had anytime off in years," Maiman said.

"It
was difficult because of what was happening with Nicholas' dad, but the
byproduct of all that was that we had a break, which we needed. We just
didn't know we needed it. We were on the road every year for 300 days. When
we took the time off, we discovered that we had some tension between us.
That was resolved and we came back closer as a band when we worked on the
album."

Walk the Moon is already looking ahead to its next album.

"When we start
working on new material, I'm sure it's going to sound different than "Shut
Up and Dance" and the songs from this album," Maiman said.

"We just want to
keep developing making it more interesting for us and the fans."